Decorative laminated product and process of manufacture



H. A. FA'BER h June 15, 1937.

DECORATIVE LAMINATED PRODUCT AND PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE Filed Aug. 10, 1935 (dig;-

Patented June 15, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Herbert A. Faber, Cincinnati,

Ohio, assignor to The Formica Insulation Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application August 10, 1935, Serial No. 35,653

20 Claims.

This invention relates particularly to the manufacture of a decorative laminated product having a texture-simulating surface appearance, and the resulting improved product.

The primary object is to provide a simple and effective method which enables a novel effect to be obtained in the manufacture of decorative laminated products. A further object is to produce a decorative laminated product of improved o appearance by a simple and economical method of manufacture.

It is known in the art that a decorative laminated product can be produced by embodying in such product, at or near the surface, a fabric sheet having printed thereon a design of desired character. Simulation of wood finishes, for example, may be produced in known manner. In the practice of known processes, however, the colors are mixed to produce a desired color in the ink for the printing operation to be performed.

I have discovered that it is possible to obtain a finish of texture-simulating appearance by employing the principle of using a field printed, in a selected color, upon a fabric sheet, in minute dots separated by minute spaces, and associating with said sheet a backing and with said dots another color which is visible largely in or through the spaces between said dots, the printed sheet and backing being impregnated with a suitable binder and consolidated under heat and pressure.

In' a preferred practice, a sheet of white paper, for example, has a field of dots printed thereon in a selected color, and upon this field there is printed a field of .dots in another color. A printing-plate, or printing roller, adapted to the printing of the dots, may be employed for both printing operations. In practice, the dots applied in the second printing operation will be printed 'mainly in the spaces between the dots first applied. To some extent, the colors will overlap. However, the paper has a greater aflinity for the ink than is possessed by the dried ink from the first printing operation. Moreover, in the printing operations, the sheet, in the second operation, does not register accurately with the position it had in the first operation. In any event, it has been found that in practice substantial mismatching of the printed dots occurs, even though the same design of printing-plate, or printingoperations.

Still referring to the preferred practice, the multi-tone printed dots preferably underlie a surface-sheet, which becomes transparent, or translucent, in the operation of consolidating the asroller be employed in performing both printing sembly under heat and pressure, it being understood that a suitable binder, preferably a heathardening binder, is employed for impregnating the printed sheet and the backing-sheet.

The effect of disposing the printed dots back of a surface-sheet may be obtained by turning the printed face of the sheet towards the underlying backing sheets; or the effect may be obtained by turning the printed surface outwardly and placing thereover a surface-sheet impregnated with a binder. A less desirable method is to have the printed colors appear on the outer surface of the surface-sheet, but underlying a rather heavy film of binder or resin.

In the preferred practice, also, an opaque film, or layer, of suitable pigment is employed upon the backing below the field or fields of printed dots, this opaque backing serving to reflect light which has passed through the colors. The dots of colors are placed in juxtaposition with or without small intervening spaces. The result is an overall uniform mixed color, which has texture. Color variation is in the details. This multi-tone decoration is much more relieving to the eye than the solid color decorative effect known in the art. It is restful, due to the variations present. The finished laminated sheet, although smooth at the outside surface, has the appearance of texture. The result is added softness, smoothness and brightness.

With this new method, spots of the various colors are placed side by side, giving an additive efiect, creating brightness. The eye sees a broader spectrum of light than with a single color. The result is a new character and an overall combined color, or cast, but with contrasts of colors, as noted.

The different dots used in juxtaposition may vary in hue, chromo and brightness. Juxtaposition of contrasting hues may be, for example, a blue-green and a yellow-green; a chromo juxtaposition may be a pure blue and a gray-blue; and a brightness juxtaposition may be, for example, a dark red and a pink. Various combinations of colors may be used, of course. As a further example, with the pink and dark red, there may be combined a gray-green, a blue-green, or a salmon. The gray-green gives a neutral character; the blue-green gives a brightening contrast with red, and the salmon gives warmth. The result is a decorative effect which cannot be reproduced in a solid color, and which has marked advantages as a background material. The product resulting from combining gray-green with red has a Fig. 1 illustrates a preferred method of print- 7 ing the sheet which carries the colors; Fig. 2, a broken view of a printing roller which may be employed in the process; Fig. 3, a broken view showing an assembly of sheets which may be used in accordance with one modificatixm of the process; Fig. 4, a broken view ofan assembly of sheets which may be used in accordance with another modification of the process; Fig. 5, a broken view of a'sheet which may be used in another modification; Fig. 6, a view illustrating an assembly ready for hot-pressing; Fig. '1, a view of another assembly ready for hot-pressing; Fig. 8, an end view of the pressed product; Fig. 9, a greatly magnified fragmentary view showing one form of dot-printing surface which may be employed upon the printing roller, or the printing plate, as the case may be; Fig. 10, a broken sectional view taken as indicated at line In of Fig. 9; Fig. 11, a view similar to Fig. 10, but showing a different form of dot-printing projection; and Fig. 12, a section showing-simple dot-pitting of the printing-roll.

It has been found thatin the present process, "intaglio printing has decided advantages. In utilizing this process, a metal printing roll preferably is employed to take the ink from an inking roll to a transfer roll, which prints the dots upon the paper in acontinuous process. The printing surface is produced upon the metal roll in any desired manner. It may be done. for example, by photographing a design upon a sensitized film on the roll, removing portions of the film not hardened by the light, and then etching the roll, after which the light-reacted portions of the film may be removed; or, if desired, the printing surface may be produced on the roll by mechanical means. The printing surface may be produced by covering the surface of the roll with minute pits, or holes, separated by minute spaces, and preferably spaced promiscuously.

In the illustration given in the drawing. A designates a printing-roll which receives ink from a roller B and applies it to a transfer-roll C which cooperates with a tympanum roll D. A scraper-blade E preferably is associated with roll A.

The roll A may have its surface pitted, or covered, with minute indentations, or very minute projecting points, closely spaced and adapted to produce a field of color-dots which are small and closely spaced. The dots, or points, may be irregularly arranged on the roll., Inthe illustrations given in the drawing, the points or dots and the spaces between them are shown greatly enlarged. In Fig. 2, the dots or points are designated l, and it will be noted that they are illustrated as being irregularly arranged, by preference. The dots may vary in size, and the spacing may vary, but both dots and spacing should be minute, ordinarily. For example, the dots may vary in diameter from .0001" to .015". The spacing between dots may be irregular and may or may not corre spond in size with the size of the dots.

In using the "intaglio process it is preferred to use a'soft composition transfer roll between the metal printing roll and the paper, which, in Fig. 1, is designated C. The soft transfer roll tends to disturb the mechanical regularity of the dots, and also to produce a somewhat fuzzy" appearance due to a moreor less spreading of the colors. It is difficult to describe this effect, which becomes accentuated in the hot-pressing operation. However, it is possible to produce effects which simulate textiles woven from soft materials. such as fine wool, or fieece. In many cases, the surface effect is such as to clearly show loosely woven fine yarns, with fibres extending therefrom, so that the surface, as of wool, has a texture-effect. In some cases, the imitation is that a suitable percentage of titanium oxide white pigment may be mixed with a varnish comprising a heat-hardening resin and a solvent. As an illustration, 15 or 20% pigment in bakelite varnish will serve the purpose, or a similar percentage of pigment in a solution of urea-formaldehyde resin will serve the purpose- In Fig. 3, the printed dots appear on the outer surface of the sheet, and are conventionally indicated at 3. In practice, the dots are extremely small and extremely close together, and are so spread and distributed as to give a texture effect. The use of a single color in the form of printed dots is illustrated in Fig. 3. In practice, the sheets are coated, or saturated, with'a suitable binder; and after. they are consolidated under heat and pressure, the surface sheet 3 and the underlying color-sheet 4 become transparent, and the color of the sheet 4 appears between the contrasting color of the dots on the sheet 8". Light passes through the colors in both sheets and is refiecte'd from the pigmented surface 5'. The re- 'sult is both a contrasting of colors, and a certain blending of colors which produces a general cast of color; and, with this, a texture-simulating effect.

. In the modification shown in nates a printed surface-sheet which has been dot-printed in two colors. The shaded dots, designated 6', are printed in one color, and the unshaded dots, designated, 6 are printed in another color. The sheet 6 is placed upon a background sheet I which has a pigmented surface I'. The sheets are suitably impregnated with a resinous binder, and, after consolidation under heat and pressure, the sheet 6 becomestransparent.

Figs. 4, l desig- In the illustration given in Figs. 3 and 4, where the printed dots appear upon the exposed sur-' face of the surface-sheet, the surface-sheet will, in practice, be covered by a substantial film of resin, preferably, but not necessarily, a heathardening resin. The binder employed should, however, be such as to give a clear film of transparent, or semi-transparent, character.

Preferably, the printed dots are protected by shaded dots 8'- indicating one color, and the unshaded dots 8 indicating another color. The back or bottom surface of the sheet 8 has applied thereto a pigmented coating 9. The sheet shown in Fig. 5 may be consolidated with a backing-sheet, or sheets, suitably impregnated with a binder.

In the illustration given in Fig. 6, the sheets indicated at In serve as a foundation; the sheet H may be assumed to have applied to its upper surface a pigmented coating; and the sheet designated I 2 may be assumed to have applied to its under surface afield of printed dots. All of these sheets may be assumed to be impregnated with a suitable binder. When consolidated under heat and pressure, -a laminated product I3 is.

produced, as illustrated in Fig. 8. The surfacesheet I! becomes transparent or translucent in the hot-pressing operation.

In the modification shown in Fig. '7, the foundation-sheets are designated |l;a sheet [5 having an opaque coating on its upper surface is placed over the foundation-sheet; a sheet I 6 which may be of solid color, but not opaque, is

placed over the sheet l5; and a dot-printed sheet I! is placed above the sheet I6. Assuming these sheets to be impregnated with a suitable binder and consolidated under heat and pressure, the

sheet I! becomes transparent, and color from the sheet I6 shows through the spaces between the color-dots on the sheet ll, the color-dots on the sheet I! being different from the color employed in the sheet l6. In effect, dots of color from the sheet 16 show through the spaces between the dots on sheet l1.

As indicated above, the provision of dots on the metal printing-roll may be made in any desired manner. In the illustration given in Figs. 9 and 10, the surface of theroll A is covered with small projections 3 which are slightly cupped.

In the form shown in Fig. 11, the printing roll A is shown covered with minute pointed projections l9.

In the form shown in Fig. 12, the roll A has its surface pitted with minute holes, or pits, 20, which are separated by minute spaces.

Where a laminated foundation, such as that shown in Fig. 6, is employed, these laminations may have any suitable binder. If desired, a phenolic condensation product binder may be used, inasmuch as any undersirable color produced thereby will be prevented from showing at the decorative surface by reason of the interposition of the opaque sheet II.

A phenolic resin may be employed as ,a clear varnish in the surface-sheet, but it is preferred to employ a urea-formaldehyde condensation product solution at the surface. In Fig. 6, for example, the sheets lll may be impregnated with a phenol varnish; the sheet ll may have its lower surface coated with a phenol varnish and may have its upper surface coated with a urea-formaldehyde varnish; and the sheet I! may be impregnated with a urea-formaldehyde resin. Such a combination yields a highly desirable product, possessing great strength and durability, and clearly exhibiting the texture-simulating decoration which is adjacent the upper surface of the sheet ll.

While any suitable heat-hardening resin may be employed as a means for binding the sheets together and giving a transparent or semi-transparent character to the upper sheet, other suit- 75 able binders, such as a natural resin, Vinylite resin, Plioform, or the like may be used. However, superior results are obtained by the use of heat-hardening-resins, especially where protection is desired at the surface against heat, solvents, or chemicals. It will be understood, of course, thatwhere heat-hardening resins are employed, they are, in the hot-pressing operation, converted to the infusible and substantially insoluble condition. When used to impregnate the paper, or other fabric, the heat-hardening resins are in potentially reactive form, requiring only heat to convert them to the final state.

Multi-tone effects in great variety may be attained by the use of two or more well-selected colors, applied independently. These colors may, to some extent, overlap. In the main, they are in mismatched relation. Each color, in fact, is in effect a field of dots; and these fields are largely in mismatched relation. It is due to this fact, largely, that the texture effect is obtainedan effect which cannot be obtained from merely printing a preparatorily mixed color upon a sheet to be used in producing the decorative laminated product.

As indicated above, it is preferred to use at the surface a colorless light-stableand hard'ureaformaldehyde resin; and it is advisable to use an opaque background for the printed colors,

.which has the effect of reflecting the light and making the colors stand out.

The texture-eifect will vary somewhat with variations in the character of the fabric employed .for receiving the printed dots. The fabric near the decorative surface preferably is unsized paper. Roughening of the surface of the paper is unnecessary to obtain the texture appearance, as

such texture effect is due to a color variation produced throughout the reflecting surfaces. This variation is obtained by minute color points, that is, interrelated minute areas of different colors. To produce different textures, the areas and their distribution are varied at will, so long as the principle employed is not departed from. The minute color areas are placed side by side. That is, the colors, in the main, are in juxtaposition, and not superimposed. Mottled effects may be produced by suitable variations in the size, number, and relation of the minute areas, over a large surface, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

Printing upon the sheet which carries the colors may be efiected either before or after the sheet has been impregnated with a suitable binder. Preferably, the sheets are printed, then impregnated or coated with a binder, and then dried. The sheets are then assembled and hotpressed to produce a consolidated product.

If desired, the opaque layer between the dotprinted sheet and the backing may be a colored pigment, or it may be a white pigment and a dye.

For convenience, the word transparent will be used in the appended claims/with broad enough significance to include semi-transparency or translucency.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, but the appended claims should be construed as broadly as permissible, in view of the prior art.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In themanufacture of a decorative lamieffect in the finish of such product, which comprises: printing upon a fabric sheet, in a selected color, a field of minute dots, separated by minute spaces; associating with said sheet a backing, and with said dots another color visible in spaces between said dots; impregnating said sheet and backing with a binder which will render said sheet transparent when hot-pressed; and consolidating the assembly under heat and pressure. said colors being visible through said binder.

2. In the manufacture of a decorative laminated product, a process for seeming a texture effect in the finish of such product, which comprises: printing upon a fabric sheet, in a selected color, a field of minute dots,. separated by minute spaces; associating with said sheet a backing which includes an opaque reflecting surface and with said dots another color visible in spaces between said dots; impregnating said sheet and backing with "a binder which will render ,said

sheet transparent when hot-pressed; and consolidating the assembly under heat and pressure, said colors being visible through said binder.

3. A process as stated in claim 1, as practiced by locating the printed dots and associated color beneath said fabric sheet.

4. A process as stated in claim 1, as practiced by locating the printed dots and associated color beneath said fabric sheet and employing an opaque layer which serves as a light-reflecting surface disposed back of said dots and associated color.

5. A process as set forth in claim 1, as practiced by interposing a colored layer between said fabric sheet and said backing.

6. In the manufacture of a decorative laminated product, a process for securing a texture effect in the finish of such product, which comprises: printing upon a fabric sheet in a selected 4 color a field of minute dots separated by minute spaces; printing upon said fabric sheet a second field of minute dots in a different color and in the spaces between said first-mentioned dots; associating with said dot-printed sheet a backing; impregnating said sheet and backing with a suitable binder which will render said sheet transparent when hot-pressed; and consolidating the assembly under heat and pressure.

7. In the manufacture of a decorative laminated product, a process for securing a texture effect in a finish, which-comprises: providing a foundation-body; printing upon a sheet of fabric, in a selected color, a field of minute dots separated by minute spaces; associating with said dots another color largely mismatched with relation to said dots; impregnating the sheet and foundation with a resinous binder which will render said sheet transparent when hot-pressed and superimposing the sheet upon the foundation; and hot-pressing the assembly.

8. A process of producing a. laminated product having a texture-like surface appearance which comprises: impregnating with potentially reactive synthetic resin and, drying a surface-sheet and a backing-sheet, said resin being such that it will render said surface-sheet transparent when hot-pressed; printing in a selected color on a surface of one of said sheets a field of minute dots separated by minute spaces; placing the sheets in superposed relation with the printed dots between the sheets; and consolidating the assembly under heat and pressure to an infusible and substantially insoluble state, whereby the dots become visible through the surface-sheet and impart a texture-simulating surface.

' sheet and protected by a film of binder.

12. A decorative laminated product having a texture-simulating appearance, comprising a fabric sheet, having, in a'selected color, a fieldof is printed minute dots separated by minute spaces,

a backing for said sheet and another color as-' sociated with and visible between said dots, said sheet and backing having been united by a binder and consolidated under heat and said binder 20- leaving said sheet transparent after the hotpressed operation.

13. A product as set forth in claim 12, having a pigmented light-reflecting layer backing said printed dots and associated color. 25

14. A decorative laminated product having a texture-simulating appearance comprising a fabric sheet having, in a selected color, a field of printed minute dots separated by minute spaces, a backing for said sheet, and another color associated with and visible between said dots,;said dotsand said other color being disposed beneath the fabric-sheet, said sheet and backing having been united by a binder capable of rendering said fabric sheet transparent and consolidated under 35 heat and pressure.

15. A decorative laminated product having a texture-simulating appearance comprising a surface sheet, a field of printed minute dots in a selected color and separated by minute spaces 40 and another color associated with and visible between said dots, said dots and said other color underlying said surface-sheet, and a backing beneath said dots and said other color, said sheet and backing having been united by a binder capa- 45 ble of rendering said surface sheet transparent and consolidated under heat and pressure.

.16. A product as set forth in claim 15, characterized by a light-reflecting pigment layer disposed between said backing and said printed dots go and other color, said dots and other color permitting light to pass therethrough. I

17. In the manufacture of a decorative lamie nated product, a process for securing a texture effect in the finish of such product, which com- 55 prises: printing upon a fabric sheet in a selected color a field of minute dots separated by minute spaces; printing upon said fabric sheet a second field of minute dots in a different color and largely in the spaces between said first-mentioned w dots; associating with said dot-printed sheet an underlying colored translucent sheet whose color differs from the colors of the dots employed in said fields and is visible through the spaces between the dots and a backing which underlies 55 J said colored sheet; impregnating said sheets and backing with a suitable binder adapted to render the sheets transparent when hot-pressed and consolidating the assembly under heat and pressure. 7o

18. In the manufacture of a decorative laminated product, a process for securing a texture effect in the finish of such product, which comprises: printing upon a fabric sheet in a selected color a field of minute dots separated by minute 15 spaces; printing upon said fabric sheet a second field of minute dots in a different color and largely in the spaces between said first-mentioned dots; associating with said dot-printed sheet an underlying colored translucent sheet whose color differs from the colors of the dots employed in said fields; disposing below said colored sheet an opaque refleeting surface and a backing; impregnating said sheets and backing with a suitable binder capabio of rendering the sheets transparent when hotpressed; and consolidating the assembly under heat and pressure, the color of said translucent sheet being visible between said dots and said sheets after hot-pressing rendering said color visible therethrough.

g 19. A decorative laminated product having a texture-simulating appearance, comprising a fabric sheet having printed thereon a field of minute printed dots in one color and separated by minute spaces and a second field of minute printed dots in another color disposed largely in dots, a pigmented light-reflecting layer back of said colored sheet and a backing disposed back of said light-reflecting layer, said sheets and back ing having been united by a binder and consolidated under heat and pressure, said first-mentioned sheet and binder being transparent after such consolidation.

20. In the manufacture of a decorative laminated product, a process for securing a texture efiect in the finish of such product which comprises: assembling a fibrous surface-sheet having associated therewith a field of minute dots in a selected color, said dots being separated by minute spaces and being disposed beneath the surfacesheet, and associated with said field of dots another color visible in spaces between said dots, and a backing which includes an opaque reflecting surface disposed back of said field of dots and said other color, said sheet and backing being impregnated with a binder which will render said sheet transparent when hot-pressed; and consolidating the assembly under heat and pressure, said colors being visible through said surface-sheet and binder. I

HERBERT A. FABER. 

